Monday, March 30, 2015

What's up Doc?

So. A couple Sundays ago, Scherie had a seizure at 3am Monday.
Then again, when I was coming back to the bedroom from starting the coffee at 6:15, she was seizing again.
So I stuck around, she said she felt okay, and I went to work late.
I came home that night and she greeted me with a badly abraded arm and a general soreness.
She had been reading her Bible at the kitchen table, nodding off occasionally, and then woke up on the floor.
Although at the time she insisted it was not another seizure, her neurologist later told her it was.
She didn't feel like seeing a doctor and I didn't see a need to.
Wednesday night we went to church and I taught. She seemed good.
Thursday we woke up and I decided to call the doctor to get an appointment.
He said to go to the ER immediately. We did.
Sat there all day. Finally got a CAT-Scan about 3pm and were told she had two fractured vertibrae and was given a neck brace collar. Probably had a couple broken ribs too.
They don't tape ribs anymore for fear of restricting lung activity leading to an infection.
They give you Hydrocodone.
I took her to lunch Saturday and it dragged in to dinner. A nice time.

Sunday, she was in so much pain, we skipped church.
Monday, I stayed home with her.
I called Visiting Angels to get a quote.
I talked to a sister from church and she suggested we call a lady who used to attend our church, but had left for some reason I am still not privy to.
She has her own health issues and no car.
I called her and she offered to sit with Scherie. I drove to get her the next day and thank God I was able to go back to work. While I started to feel as if I might be coming down with something.
Broke a sweat in my sleep that night.
Mary kept the car and came back the next day.
Wednesday I felt like crap. Skipped church, Thursday I felt better, til nighttime.
Fever overnight again and took Friday off, leaving Mary at her house.
Saturday feeling better again and Sunday we both went to church!
Every day though, helping Scherie change and shower, cooking, (except when folks brought meals!) changing her bandages, laundry, cleaning the kitchen and napping on the couch inadvertently.
Today She is much better, able to walk without assistance (the narc made her dizzy) and a young lady from church stayed with her while I went to work.
I thank God that my employers are as understanding as they are, that my church friends are as helpful as they are, that my Scherie didn't get hurt more than she did.

Well, the upshot is. We have decided to go ahead with her next brain surgery.
This had been a hard decision to make until now because of the risks involved.
They will open her back up, Pull back some of the Dura Matter on the posterior of her brain.
Place a sensor grid on her brain where they think the problem is and wait for a seizure. Or two.
They will then map the troublespots and within a day, try to cut them out.
Without affecting her ability to see, or talk.

So. There you have it. Thanks for listening. Praying would be good.
We've got a couple months.

I had no idea, and I'm so very sorry for poor Scherie. Given my myriad of auto-immune diseases, the worst part is worrying about how it affects Joe - not me. We have no one who would come to our aid, unlike we did in Indiana. Which makes our interdependence so much more crucial to our survival. Empathy and compassion are my forte, and I feel both for you and Scherie..

Scherie often has seizures in response to stress.To monitor seizures with EEGs earlier, they stop her meds and put me in a hospital room with her for days on end...She had two seizures the night before, which I expected, but she had three last night, which was totally unexpected. I prayed hard, God was good. No ambulance.Wearing the neck brace and the pain is stressful.